London Consorts of Winds

• Gounod, "Petite Symphonie"
• Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
• Heinrich Schutz, Psalm 128
• Giovanni Gabrieli - Canzon Septimi Toni a 8
• Handel, Fireworks Music, La Paix, La Rejouissance
• Liz Lane - Turnabout
• Howard Jones, Blue Mobile World Premiere
• Amir Mahyar Tafreshipou, In the Dark World Premiere
• Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Dance of the Buffoons

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  Programme Notes

  Gounod, "Petite Symphonie"

  Charles Gounod wrote his "Petite Symphonie" in 1885 for the Parisian wind ensemble "La Trompette" which was directed by the celebrated flautist Paul Taffanel. This may possibly explain why there is no second flute part in the original scoring. What is less understandable is the dearth of notes in the original second oboe part and the version performed tonight will feature both a newly-created second flute and a more rounded second oboe part.

  Petite Symphonie has four movements: Adagio/Allegretto, Andante cantabile, Scherzo and Finale allegretto.

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  Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusi

  Mozart's popular "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", more properly the Serenade No 13 in G, K525, was composed in Vienna whilst Mozart was working on Don Giovanni, around 1787. Originally scored just for strings (sometimes played as a quartet or quintet, sometimes with a string orchestra) the version you will hear tonight has been re-orchestrated for wind and brass instruments, a relatively common practice in Mozart's time, and some of the movements have been moved to the slightly more wind-friendly key of F.

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  Heinrich Schutz, Psalm 128

  Schutz was the pre-eminent German composer of the early 17th century, writing music for the Lutheran Church. During his lifetime, Germany was torn apart by the 30 Years War, ostensibly fought over religion, and he had to flee to Denmark for safety. This setting of Psalm 128 is one of many Psalm settings he made for choir, using two choirs situated antiphonally on opposite sides as was common at the time. Psalm 128 begins with the words "Happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands; you shall be happy."

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  Giovanni Gabrieli - Canzon Septimi Toni a 8

  Gabrieli's Sacrae Symphoniae, published in 1597, contains 45 vocal and 16 instrumental compositions. The instrumental works are mostly intended for two antiphonal groups, each of 4 or 5 instruments. Usually the instruments are not named, but for one work (similar in style to the present one) cornetts and sackbuts are specified. Gabrieli's are the earliest antiphonal works ever published, and probably the earliest ever written.

  The one that we are playing today is transposed up a minor third to adapt it to the available instruments. The "7th mode" of the title is the Myxolydian, differing from the modern major only in having the leading note flattened. This is the mode (with tonal centre E flat in our transposed version) in which the work begins and ends, but it has episodes that imply B flat Lydian, F Dorian, and C Ionian. Episodes outside the principal mode are common in Gabrieli's writing.

  
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  Handel, Fireworks Music, La Rejouissance

  The Music for the Royal Fireworks (HWV 351) was composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the fireworks in London's Green Park on 27 April 1749. It was to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

  The performing musicians were in a specially constructed building which had been designed by Servandoni, a theatre designer. The music provided a background for the royal fireworks. However the display was not as successful as the music. The enormous wood building caught fire due to the fall of the bas relief of George II. However, the music had been performed publicly six days earlier, on 21 April 1749 when there was a full rehearsal of the music at Vauxhall Gardens. Over twelve thousand people, each paying 2s 6d, rushed for it, causing a three-hour traffic jam of carriages, after the main route to the area south of the river was closed (after the new London Bridge's central arch collapsed and it had to be closed). The work is in five movements, of which we will be performing two. (Source: Wikipedia)

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  Liz Lane - Turnabout

  "I was commissioned to compose a piece for the Southwark Winds Ancient and Modern Consort in the summer of 2004 and looked forward to the challenge of writing for this unusual combination of instruments. I was particularly interested in how the ensemble could be grouped into blocks of sound using different combinations, in particular the woodwind versus brass with the alto saxophone taking an independent lyrical role in the middle. The work was partly built around this and the tutti ensemble is not heard until over halfway through the piece.

  I began writing Turnabout at the beginning of 2005 shortly after starting my PhD studies in composition at Cardiff University, having just finished teaching A level music. Bach Chorales were much on my mind as I had taught them for several years and I was aware of how they had epitomized Western harmony for several centuries. I thought it would be fun and interesting to include a contemporary version of a chorale, almost to get them out of my system! In fact, I included two, both closely related to each other and they are at the heart of this work.

  There is also a waltz - although you couldn't dance to it because of the irregular time signature. Later in the piece the two styles combine, and it is this contrast and development that inspired the title."

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  Howard Jones, Blue Mobile

  'Blue Mobile' for nine wind instruments was written in 2008, and was inspired by the mobile sculptures of Alexander Calder. Its structural principles are based on the idea of a limited set of materials that interact in ways that are determined partly by events during the performance and partly by the nature of the materials themselves and the way they are linked together. It borrows some elements from the language and performance practice of the blues, as suggested in the title. Each performer takes a solo, and these instrumental solos, though fully notated, have an improvisatory feel.

  The accompaniment maintains a continuous feeling of rhythmic time, and is coloured by individual choices of timbre made spontaneously by the performers. The sculptural quality comes from the fact that there is no set starting or ending point, so hearing a performance of this piece is rather like walking all round a sculptural form, seeing it from every angle.

  Howard Jones won the the Community Music category in the 'Composer of the Year Awards' in 2007.

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  Amir Mahyar Tafreshipou, In the Dark

  Soloist - Maya Sapone (soprano)

  In The Dark was composed in memory of the contemporary Persian poet Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967), the most famous woman in the history of Persian literature. The piece is a dark and intense tone poem, which explores the sound world of both Persian and contemporary musical gestures.

  The composer writes: " In this work I returned to the poetry of Forough, which inspired so many of my recent compositions. The text is dark. The music is accordingly, somber and dramatic, demanding a lot of personal expression by the performer from abject despair in the opening to the bitter lyricism of the final part through the frustration in the middle episode."

  Amir Tafreshipour was born in Iran in 1974 and studied at the Academy of Music in Esbjerg, Denmark where he gained his BMus in piano and pedagogy in 2001. In 2003 he gained a BMus in composition at Trinity College of Music in London, and in 2004 he gained an MA in composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He won several prizes during his studies.

  Maya Sapone is an opera singer with a fascinating international background which embraces the culture of three continents: Africa, Europe and Asia. Born in Gabon to an Italian father and Thai mother, Maya furthered her singing studies in England, Spain and Italy.

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  Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Dance of the Buffoons

  Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) was one of the Russian composers from the group known as "The Five". The group met in St Petersburg and their aim was to produce specifically Russian art music, rather than music derived from the European conservatoire tradition. The other composers from the group were Balakirev, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin.

  The "Dance of the Buffoons", also known as the "Dance of the Skomorokhi", comes from the 3rd act of the opera "The Snow Maiden". It consists of two main contrasting themes, one fast and staccato and the other lyrical, repeated and slightly varied.

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